Unless otherwise indicated herein, the materials described in this section are not prior art to the claims in this application and are not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.
Minimally invasive surgical procedures can offer benefits of faster healing times and less trauma to a patient. Minimally invasive surgical procedures may be carried out through a small incision or an anatomical opening of the patient. Often, various forms of surgical tools are guided through the incision or opening to perform the surgical procedure. The nature of these procedures precludes the physician from directly viewing the course of the surgical tool once the surgical tool is inserted into the patient.
An augmented reality image can aid the physician in performing the procedure. An augmented reality image may include a first image superimposed over a second image, such as a pre-operative planning image superimposed on a real-time computer generated patient image, where the latter image also depicts the surgical tool. Thus, the physician can see the surgical tool in real-time in the augmented reality image as it progresses into the patient for purposes of aiding the physician in executing the procedure.